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Elizabeth E Pruett in Oklahoma

Elizabeth E Pruett lives in Oklahoma with her husband Zachary and their two children, Anna and John. She enjoys genealogy, quilting, music, reading, and writing. Her life goal is to live out 1 Corinthians 10:31. …Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

"I am a child of God, and it is my purpose to glorify Him in everything I do. My life is dedicated to obeying Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and encouraging others to 'love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.' I will serve the Kingdom of God by proclaiming His righteousness, truth, and everlasting love to my family, friends, and community."

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Thursday, February 11, 2016

Palma Lena Peterson Smith Died on 27 January 1934 in Sioux City, Iowa.

One thing about
genealogy is that you usually do it in small, bite size chunks as
life allows. After all, this is a hobby which requires time and funds
if you want to go very deep. As a result, some errors can be assumed
correct for a very long time before they are corrected.

On that note, I
spent some quality time the other night looking for records to back
up "What I already know" about my 2nd great
grandmother Palma Lena Peterson Smith. As always, I was reminded why
the original records are so important. The only death date for Palma
listed in the online family trees (and the one I was using) was 27
December 1934. Wrong! The sudden passing of this dear Christian woman
happened a full 11 months earlier on 27 JANUARY 1934! I found this
out by tracking down original newspaper notices about her death –
the first of which was published 28 Jan 1934 (only one day after her
death) in the Sioux City Sunday Journal.

I was perplexed at
first. It wasn't just my mistake (which happens). Everybody had this
incorrect date. How was everybody wrong? I looked up my original
source, The Story of J. M. & P. L. Smith and their Kin and
Kith by Palma's daughter Leora
Swanson, and the death date was correct in two places both in and
near the copied obituary from an unknown date and newspaper. By
the way, I am looking for
this information in case anyone knows where
to find it; the
obituary is full of information, and I would like to use it as
evidence.

What
was unfortunate is that the typo was held in the genealogy summary in
the back of the book and was apparently the page that was being
copied by me and my fellow Smith Family researchers. Oh
well. It happens!

Also,
the obituary was very clear that she died in a hospital in Sioux
City, Iowa, not closer to home in Sloan or Albaton. So, two mistakes in
my family tree disposed of.
On to the next!